309 // 365

In the UK it is Bonfire Night tonight.
What is Bonfire Night? Traditionally it’s a celebration that Guy Fawkes was caught and didn’t manage to blow up the Houses of Parliment. So to honor this we set off fireworks and burn a Guy Fawkes figure on a bonfire! It’s all very jolly! 😛

I have fond memories of Bonfire Nights from when I was younger; we used to go to my grandma and grandad’s along with my aunt/uncle/cousins and have a bonfire and some fireworks. There would be nice warm food and what not. Now we never really seem to do anything; our house isn’t ideal because our back garden is too small and there are trees at the end of it, and so we just never seem to really do anything for it 😦

Today though I decided to walk to the field near my mum and dad’s as it is quite high up and see what I could shoot. It turns out that shooting fireworks at non-organised events is a lot harder than I anticipated it would be. Firstly there are fireworks popping up all over the place, so some are big some are small. There is usually just a couple, then a wait, then some more. Had kB been with me then I would have gone further afield, but all the best views of the city are in less than desirable places for a young lady to be hanging out on her own with a camera, and kB was at band practice.

After I’d got to the top of the hill (I’d also not really thought about how dark it would be up there. Luckily it’s pretty much a full moon otherwise I would have been in trouble!) I tried to shoot wide angle city shots but the fireworks were lost as home fireworks aren’t really that big. So I switched to my medium zoom and had some more goes. Then behind me (where I had previously noticed said tree and thought to myself ‘That is a nice tree there, if all else fails I will shoot the tree. Wouldn’t it be spectacular if there were fireworks next to it!’) someone just at the bottom of the hill was setting off fireworks! Right next to the tree! YEAH!

So I scurried back up the hill, ducking under branches, loosing my hat, possibly standing in cow pats and managed to get the shot above. I kind of knew it would be photo of the day, but there was a part of me that really wanted a big landscape… After about 15 more minutes I decided enough was enough and went back to my mum and dads.

It’s kind of made me want to shoot at night a bit more. It was a bit scary, but quite epic at the same time to be out in a field on your own at night.